Sebastian paced the length of the cabin as he kept his eyes glued to the window that overlooked the driveway. Not the first hint of a headlight coming in his direction. He glanced at his watch. Rory’s baby brother, from everything they could gather, had left the airport over an hour ago. He should have been there by now.
He wasn’t there.
His phone starting chirping again. Yanking it up, he answered, “Tell me something, Rory. Have you been able to get him on the line? What’s up?” He raked his hand through his hair and walked over to stand directly in front of the window. Nothing. Rory’s brother was stranded out in that snow.
“Nothing, Seb. All he has is a regular cell phone and you know that shit isn’t going to work in a snowstorm like what you guys are experiencing there. Fuck! Where did this storm come from? I knew there was supposed to be snow, but nothing like this,” Rory roared into the phone. “I’ve fucking sent him out there to freeze to death, Seb. The kid’s already in the dumps because of the whole ex-girlfriend shit. What am I gonna do? What can I do? Tell me how to make this better, Seb,” Rory demanded into the phone.
Seb could hear Rory’s desperation. He understood it completely. If that was his family out on that road, he’d be raging right about now. Hell, Rory was like his family…which made this unknown kid somebody he had to protect.
He’d just started pacing again when he heard someone whispering something to Rory on the other end of the phone. Whatever those whispered words were caused Rory to start cussing all crazy. Yeah, Rory’s anxiety level just inched up another notch.
“What is it, Rory? What did they say?” he asked.
“Riley finally got somebody at the car rental place to answer the fucking phone. Mackenzie’s in a small hybrid car that will drive like fuck in a snowstorm, Seb” Rory took a shaky breath. “He’s in trouble. He’s in fucking trouble, Seb. You’ve got to help him!”
“Don’t worry, Rory. You know I’ll get to him. I’ll call you back as soon as I have him at the cabin. You guys stay safe where you are and wait on my call. I promise I won’t let anything happen to your kid brother,” Sebastian said as he started gathering his warmest gear. He whistled for his dog, Valentine, and she came running around the corner, excited to be doing something.
A few minutes later, he had hung up from Rory, geared his body up for the snowstorm, and he and Valentine were walking out of the cabin. As he started his ATV and pulled down the driveway, he told himself that everything was going to be fine. He would find Mackenzie safely inside his rental car, cold and pissed, but perfectly safe. He’d make fun of the kid, they’d laugh about it, and they would both be back in the cabin, safe and sound, before the next hour passed. All would be good.
All was not good.
If Valentine hadn’t have been riding gunshot on the ATV, Seb would have never seen Mackenzie. He would have driven straight past the kid, leaving him to freeze to death in the snow. They hadn’t driven a full mile before Valentine had started barking like crazy, jumped off the ATV, and disappeared down an embankment. He’d been furious with her to begin with, but when he’d peered over the edge and saw what had her in frenzy, Seb’s heart had literally stopped beating. He could tell it was a body.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
He scrambled down the embankment and fell down onto the snow next to Valentine. Holy, shit, please don’t let this end the way he was afraid it was going to. The kid was propped up against a tree and looked to be sleeping peacefully. Sleeping in the snow – not good. Not good, at all. Bad.
Hell, he didn’t even know if the guy was Mackenzie Blanchard or not...he just knew he was the most gorgeous creature he’d ever laid eyes on. Pale flesh stood out starkly in the darkness of the night. Brown hair was plastered down by snow. The longest eyelashes he’d ever seen in his life rested peacefully against that pale skin. Sebastian’s heart skidded to a stop, hung there, and then started thundering wildly.
He reached his gloved hand out and touched the man’s cheek. “Mackenzie! Hey, kid, wake up for me! Come on, Sweets, wake up.” It had to be Mackenzie. He looked just like Rory…only cuter…cuddlier. Fucking sexier.
“Sleepy,” Mackenzie muttered with a frown and a flutter of those sexy eyelashes.
Again, Sebastian’s heart went wild. “Oh, no, Sweets,” Seb argued. “No sleepy out in the snowy. That’s some dangerous shit.” Seb couldn’t believe the happy dance his entire body was doing. He loved Rory, was thankful he was going to be able to get his friend’s kid brother to safety, but the shit going on inside of him had absolutely nothing to do with friendship…and everything to do with a nasty case of full-blown lust.
Mackenzie muttered something else but Seb couldn’t make it out with the wind howling and Valentine barking in his ear. He eyed Mackenzie’s propped-up body and decided the object of his latest obsession was almost his size and looked like he was stacked with nothing but pure muscle. It was a good fucking thing that his MMA training kept him in prime physical shape. Lugging this hot piece of lusciousness back up that embankment and onto his ATV wasn’t going to be a simple task.
“Come on, Sweets,” he urged as he tried to tempt Mackenzie into helping him in some way other than the ‘playing dead’ option he was currently going with. “I could use some help here. Wakey, wakey,” he pleaded. “Open those pretty eyes for me. Are they green like Rory’s eyes? Come on, let me see em!”
Nothing. Not even a flutter of those sexy eyelashes. Well, shit. Looked like he was going to be doing the heavy lifting all by himself…and if he touched Rory’s baby, straight brother inappropriately in the process? That would all be on Mackenzie. He could have forced those gorgeous eyes open if he was interested in protecting his virtue.
Thirty minutes later, Sebastian was seriously exhausted and more than a little worried. They’d been inside the cabin for about ten minutes and Mackenzie was awake, but not really fully alert. How long had he been in the cold? Why had the fool even gotten out of the car and tried to walk? What the hell had he been thinking?
He had called Rory to let him know they were in the cabin, had the fire blazing in the giant fireplace, and had converted the sleeper sofa into a bed. He figured right in front of the fireplace was the best damned place for Mackenzie to be. At the moment, the poor guy was sitting in the floor, shivering and staring off into space. His wet clothes clung to his body, making his discomfort even worse, Sebastian was positive.
“Hey, Sweets! I think I told you to walk around the cabin while I got the fire stoked. You need to be moving about to get the blood flowing again.”
Green eyes flashed in his direction. “Fuck off,” he said weakly. “Who in the hell are you, anyway?”
His fantasy boy was much cuter when his sexy lips were closed. Maybe he should put something in that pretty mouth to keep the bad words from slipping out?
“I’m Sebastian, rescuer of little boys who don’t know when to keep their asses inside cars instead of walking in six inches of fucking snow. I’m also the same guy that lugged your muscled ass up an embankment and inside this cabin, so ease back on the shit, okay? I’m tired and not at all in the mood.” Oh, he was in the mood for something…
“No, seriously, fuck you, man. No need to be an asshole about it. I waited in the car for over thirty minutes. How was I supposed to know that my knight in shining armor was going to take all fucking night before he decided to rescue me?” Mackenzie struggled to his feet and shook his head, sending a spray of water in Sebastian’s direction. “Oh, another thing – I’m straight so stop looking at me like that.”
Oops. Nothing like getting caught eye-fucking your friend’s kid brother. Well, if said kid brother was having a problem with how he was looking at him then he was going to have a very serious problem with what he was about to do next!
“Yeah, yeah, you’re straight,” he muttered. “Just my luck, right? I have to go and get snowed in with the only straight guy that was supposed to be at the cabin this week. Yay for me!” He crossed his arms over his chest and added, “Now…take your clothes off, Sweet Tart.” Yeah, he added the tart to his Sweets endearment after the first “Fuck you” pretty boy had muttered at him when he had been dragging him up the embankment.
Mackenzie’s emerald eyes widened in shock before narrowing into a glare that he sent straight at Sebastian. “Open your eyes, man. I’m all muscle and not afraid to use it. Whatever the hell you think you’re going to make me do, you’d best think again.” Mackenzie would have sounded a lot more badass if his teeth hadn’t been chattering.
Just for shits and giggles, Sebastian reached for the hem of his thick sweater and pulled it over his head, exposing his bare chest to the shivering Sweet Tart. Rory’s kid brother was stacked with muscle, that was for sure, but so was he. His mind, pervert that it was, went straight to a wicked vision of them, two alpha males, going at it – winner take fucking all.
He smiled. “Take. Your. Clothes. Off.”